Wildest Africa (Series 2)

9 x 1 HOUR EPISODIC BREAKDOWN

5. Nile: An African Odyssey The Nile is the longest river in the world. It flows for 6,730km from deep in the heart of Africa all the way to the Mediterranean coast. Ancient Egypt, one of the history’s most powerful civilisations, depended hugely upon it. Each year, it flooded, replenishing the fields with fertile silt. This automatic irrigation fuelled the ancient Egyptian economy.

6. Virungas: Land of Ice and Fire The Virunga Mountains are the embodiment of western fantasies about deep, dark, Africa. Located at the very centre of the continent, this string of volcanoes straddles the western branch of a huge system of cliff-bounded valleys known as the Great African Rift. It’s also home to some of the world’s most iconic animals – including the African great apes.

7. Madagascar: Island of Monsters Madagascar is truly a weird and wonderful land – a playground of evolution which some of the weirdest animals in the world call home. Isolated on an island of extreme and magical looking locations, life has adapted and diversified. With few predators numbers have proliferated and natural selection has gone mad. Madagascar really is an island of monsters.

8. Mount Kenya: African Heart of Ice Straddling the equator, Mount Kenya soars over 5km into the air. It is the second highest mountain in Africa. At its summit, temperatures fluctuate from over 30C when the sun is overhead, to below freezing when night falls. This film reveals the plants and animals that have evolved to survive in one of the earth’s most hostile environments.

9. Cape Coast: Where Worlds Collide Stretching 1,500 miles from the frigid waters of Cape Point to the sub-tropical seas of Kwazulu- Natal, Africa’s Cape Coast is where irresistible force meet immoveable object. Powerful waves have pounded this coastline for over 160m years – since Africa was torn from the ancestral landmass of Gondwana. This collision of land and sea creates a unique environment where plants flourish.

10. Congo: The Untamed Heart Known for centuries as Africa’s Dark Heart, the Congo rainforest has long held its secrets close, concealed behind a impenetrable wall of green. Only now are we beginning to understand this daunting place. Congo is a multi-layered, three-dimensional world, seething with innumerable species. By peeling back the layers, we discover how this vast rainforest works, and expose the hidden lives of its inhabitants.

11. Sahara: Life on the Edge The Sahara is the largest desert in the world – covering a third of the entire African continent, and one of the hottest, driest places on earth. According to legend, it is a land of terrible thirst, an endless, empty ocean of sand. Yet there is life here. Unique creatures adapted to one of the harshest environments on earth.

12. Lake Turkana: Land of the Crocodil The largest of Africa’s Rift valley lakes, Lake Turkana, stretches 250km south from the border with Ethiopia. Turkana is at the heart of one of the harshest landscapes on the planet where temperatures sometimes soar to a blistering 50C and the land is buffeted by relentless hot desert winds. Despite this hostile environment, man and beast have worked out a way to survive.

13. Ethiopia: Land of Extremes Land-locked and surrounded by five countries, Ethiopia is one of east Africa’s forgotten lands. Apparently passive deserts in fact seethe with fire, and cloud-piercing peaks shield a secret Eden of canyons and cliff-tops teeming with life. Ethiopia’s highland wilderness is a haven for a whole host of specialist hunters that have adapted and perfected unique strategies in order to survive.